Dulce De Leche Bars

These bars are so very delicious! A little is a lot - if you get my drift? Found this one on the Pillsbury site, as well. We tried these because we were able to do a lot of experimenting during all the Holidays and we are now settling back to normal, with a bunch of new recipes added to our repertoire. This was prepared at the Pillsbury test kitchens and they named these very, very rich Mexican-inspired bars as a favorite. I did not include the cooling time of 2 hours & 15 minutes.

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 48

Ingredients

• 2 (18 ounce)  rolls  refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• 1 3⁄4 cups quick-cooking oats or 1 3⁄4 old fashioned oats
• 2⁄3 cup  firmly packed brown sugar
• 2  teaspoons vanilla
• 1 (14 ounce) bag  caramels, unwrapped
• 1⁄2 cup unsalted butter or 1⁄2 cup unsalted margarine
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 3  tablespoons  caramel topping
• 3  tablespoons  toasted almonds, chopped or 3  tablespoons  chopped toasted pecans

Directions

1. Prehaet oven to 350°F.
2. Break up 1 roll of cookie dough into large bowl.
3. Add 3/4 cup of the oats, 1/3 cup brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla; mix well.
4. With floured fingers, press dough mixture evenly in bottom of ungreased 15x10x1" baking pan to form crust.
5. Bake 13-18 minutes or until lightly browned.
6. Meanwhile, break up remaining cookie dough into same bowl.
7. Add remaining oats, brown sugar and vanilla and mix well.
8. In large heavy saucepan, heat caramels, butter and condensed milk over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until caramels are melted and mix is smooth.
9. Remove partially baked crust from oven.
10. Spread caramel mixture evenly over crust.
11. Crumble remaining dough mixture over caramel mixture.
12. Return to oven; bake 18-22 minutes longer or until golden brown.
13. Cool 15 minutes.
14. Run knife around the edges of pan to loosen.
15. Cool completely, about 2 hours.
16. Using a small spoon, drizzle caramel topping over bars.
17. For bars, cut into 8 rows by 6 rows.